Monday, November 23, 2009

Rather like Christmas in the UK, Thanksgiving in the US is a major turkey consuming event and as a vegetarian I usually steer clear of the all the turkey references in greetings cards at this time of year, however, this artist signed postcard is such a gem that I couldn't resist buying it and sharing it here! I spent quite a while pondering on the signature "MLaFR" but finally worked it out...this postcard features a design by the celebrated children's book illustrator Mary LaFetra Russell who is probably best known for her drawings for a collection of Mother Goose nursery rhymes.

The postcard has a matte surface and a very light linen finish and the colours are still very bright, although the image was slightly marred at the time of posting - on 28 November 1916 - by the smudge of the postal cancellation which also appears on the picture side of the card. The company logo in the bottom left of the back of the card is a large letter "G" inside an artist's palette which I believe may represent one of the various incarnations of the Cincinatti-based Gibson Art Co. - if I'm wrong please leave a comment below! Certainly, the strongly coloured illustration floating at the centre of a white background with no border is typical of their house style of that period.